Machines for attaching box corner stays and the like



J. I. NASMITH "ET AL Nov. 5, 1957 MACHINES FOR ATTACHING BOX CORNER STAYS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 11, 1954 3 She'ts-Sheet 1 Filed Aug." 11, 1954 Nov. 5, 1957 I J. 1. NAsMlTH -E.TAL 2,812,176

MACHINES FOR ATTACHING BOX CORNER STAYS AND THE LIKE Nov. 5, 1957 J. I. NASMITH ETAL 2,812,176

MACHINES FOR ATTACHING BOX CORNER STAYS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 11, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS. 7 JOHN mvme NASMITH BYFLAVIUS KINGSFORD DANIELS A TTORNEYS Patented N ov. 5, 195-1 MACHINESFOR ATTACHING BOX CORNER STAYS AND THE LHE John Irving Nasmith, Stockport, and Flavius Kingsford Daniels, Dartford, England, assignors to Vickers-Armstrongs Limited, London, England, a company of. Great Britain This invention relates to machines for attaching box corner stays or the like and hereinafter generally termed -corner staying machines. In such corner staying machines a gummed paper strip is folded and damped and is thereafter fed to the operative head of the machine, whereat a. length of the strip is severed and applied to the work piece. The length of strip fed at each stroke of' the machine is set as required to suit the Work being produced.

In accordance with known practice the folded strip is opened out to pass through a mechanical, roller damping device, which revolves at, the peripheral speed at which the paper'is being drawn by the feeding means. After damping or moistening, the strip then passes to the operated feeding means, which, in turn, feeds the moistened paper between the severing means, as required.

Machines operating in the manner outlined above suffer a number of disadvantages, of which the two most important may be briefly summarised as follows:

The paper strip, for the purpose required, has to be folded centrally about its longitudinal axis, and damped in the angular form. In addition to the difliculty of satisfactorily mechanically applyingv water uniformly to the angular periphery of the damping rollers, the speed of rotation of such rollers. is indeterminate, due to inertia effects and to the varying external diameter. Further the speed of the rollersvaries between wide-limits from zero to a maximum and back again to zero at every cycle, especially when long paper feeds are required. Also the depth of immersion of the moistening wheeli varies. All these factors render it. impossible to. secure the accurate application ofthe correct amount offrnoisture, and thus to obtain the uniformly moistened 'and'adhesive film, which is essential to satisfactory, continuous, troublefree working.

Secondly, the feeding means, whatever particular form this may take, then has to operate on the moistened gummed paper so that the adhesive tends to accumulate on and around the feeding means, which therefore require frequent attention and cleaning, with consequent stoppages of the machine.

It is an object of the present invention.tosevolvemeans whereby the disadvantages outlined: above may be obviated, so that unsatisfactory adhesion and unproductive stoppages in operating corner staying machines of this type may be reduced to a minimum and: the. output increased-accordingly. i

According to the invention in a corner staying machine incorporating folding means adapted. accurately. to fold a gummed paper strip about its longitudinal axis, there is provided a mechanically operated feed device adapted to contact only the ungummed surface of" the folded strip, said device being interposed between the folding means and a non-mechanical damping or moistening device and adapted on operation to feedfa predetermined length-of the foldedstrip over or past such latter device to, severing means incorporated'in the machine head. The folding means may conveniently be of the form nited States Patent I disclosed in the specification of our prior Patent No. 480,268.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided a feed mechanism for a corner staying machine, such mechanism comprising a pair of; discs or, the like disposed at opposite sides of the path ofv move.- ment of a folded paper strip, one of such discs or the like being adapted to be angularly reciprocated in'timed'rela: tion with the operative movements of the machinewhile the second is adapted to be moved, in timed relation-withthe angular reciprocation of said first disc or the like; towards and away from an operative position whereinit will cause the strip to be fnctionally gripped between said two discs or the like. Preferably means are provided to vary the degree of angular movement of the first disc or thelike in order to vary the length of strip fed, dun. ingeach cycle of operation of the machine. The arrange; ment is also preferably such that the second disc or the like will be maintained in its operative position. byrre; silient means, the movement of said disc or the like into or from such operative position being controlled.- by means of a cam.

In accordance with yet a further aspect of theinvert tion a damping ormoistening device is provided} which;

comprises a brush orthe like adapted to be disposed-in the path of a folded strip fed to the operative head; of a cornerstaying machine, said brush or the like having the ends of the fibres or bristles soshaped as to conform to, thefshape, of the folded strip anda liquid reservoir whence liquid'may be supplied to said fibres orbristlesi Preferably the base of the fibres or bristlesis immersed, in the, liquidiin the reservoir and means are provided; to, maintain the strip in contact with; the fibres or; bristles during its passage over or across the latter.

In order that the said invention may, be clearly-under, stood and readily carried into effect the same will; be hereinafter more fully described with referencewto'. the; accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 isaside elevational-view of a feed mechanism and moistening device for a folded paper strip, partfoii the casing being broken away to permit ofillustration of the: operative parts;

Figure 2 isa plan view of the mechanism and device, s own in F g Figure 3 is a sectional view on the are 2; but on a larger scale;

Figure 4 v is a broken plan view partly, in section withparts removed to show the details of the feedmechanism; and a Figures is;a vertical sectional view taken on th'egline. 5-5; of Figure 4. In the following descriptionitwill be assumedthat' the strip feed mechanism and the stripmoistening, devicearb; incorporated in a corner staying machine having a,strip folding mechanismof; the kind described in the specificaa tion of; our prior BritislrPatent No. 480,268., Withsucha;f o lding mechanism which-is indicated generallyyb 31a in- Figure 1, the paper strip indicated. at 5 will:be*-pr,e;- sented to-the feed-mechanism in a completely foldedjforml The feed mechanism'illustrated in the drawings com: prises two horizontally disposed discs 11: and:1 2 which are disposed at opposite sides ofthe path of "movement ofthe folded'paper strip, said discs being mountedfor rotary motion'aboutvertical axes and; being so arranged that, the peripheral edges thereofwill'make contact with theputeror ungummed surfaces of the compleftelyfolded strip. The 'disc 11, which is of a diameter: suchthat-fit will-conveniently give the maxir'num'feed; required; 'is adapted 'tobe'angularly reciprocated back. and forth-tin a,hor iz ontal plane during every cycle of operationof the machine. The. construction is such. that the degree of angular movement of the disc will be variable to suit differing feed requirements, indicating means being incorporated to provide an indication of the appropriate setting or adjustment to suit any particular requirement. In the preferred form as shown the disc 11 is reciprocated through the medium of a gear and sector, a gear wheel 13 being mounted on the shaft or spindle 14 carrying the disc, such gear wheel being adapted to mesh with a toothed sector 15 which is in turn mounted on a rock shaft lie so as to be capable of angular reciprocation. The length of the stroke of the sector 15 is controlled in the following manner. A lever arm 16 is pivoted on a pin 16a carried by a stationary bracket 35 (Figure 4) bolted to the frame by a bolt 36, as shown in Figure 5, and the angular position of such lever is adjustable by means of a handwheel 18 which is mounted on a cross shaft 18acarrying a worm 18b. The worm 18b meshes with a worm wheel 180 which is carried by a spindle to which is secured a gear 18d, the latter being adapted to mesh with corresponding teeth 16b formed on the end of the lever arm 16. It will be appreciated that by revolving the handwheel 18, the angular position of the lever arm 16 may be adjusted. The arm 16 is connected by the gear 18d and its spindle to a graduated indicator 19 which co-operates with a fixed mark on the framework so that by reference to said indicator said arm may be set accurately in any selected position within its possible range of movement. Also provided at the free end of the lever arm 16 is a lug 37 having a slot or guideway 38 which serves to support one end of a link 25, the other end of which is coupled to a forked link 55:: which is fixedly connected to the mounting for the sector 15 pivoted on the rock shaft 15a. The first-mentioned end of the link 25 is adapted also to co-operate with a curved slot formed in a lever 24 which is capable of pivotal movement about a pin 24b in a bracket 39, said member 24 being given a fixed angular motion through the medium of a closed cam 20 and a cam roller 24a.

In this construction as shown more in detail in Figures 4 and 5, the adjacent faces of the cam 20 and the lever 24 are in alignment and that the lever 24 is provided with a curved slot roller groove 40, the radius of which is equal to the effective length of the link 25. The front end of the link carries a pin 41 which projects on each side of the link. On one side the projecting pin 41 carries a roller 42 which engages with the curved slot in the link 24 while the projection of the pin on the other side of the link 25 carries another roller 43 which engages in the straight slot 38 in the lug 37 on the inside of the lever 16. Cam 20 is provided with a cam groove 44 facing the lever 24 in which the cam roller 24a, mounted on a pin set in face of the lever 24 operates. The cam 20 is mounted on a shaft 21 carrying a sprocket 22 driven by means of a chain from the corner staying machine. It will be appreciated that according to the position on which the link 25 is set in the slotted lever 24 so the amount of angular motion imparted by the links 25 and a to the sector 15 will be determined.

Figures 4 and 5 show the position of the feed mechanism when set for zero feed. When the lever 16 is raised by operation of the handwheel 18, to a point above the position shown, rotation of the cam 20 causes the roller 43, engaging in the slot 38 in the lug 37, to move to and fro in this slot, resulting in an oscillatory motion of the sector 15 and consequently also of the feed disc 11. The higher the position of the lever 16, the greater the amplitude of oscillation of the feed disc.

The second disc 12, hereinafter termed the pressure disc, is not positively driven but is mounted for free rotation by a frictionless bearing on a shaft 12a carried by a frame 26, the latter being capable of pivotal movement about a vertical axis on a pin 27, as shown in Figures 2 and 4. Co-operating with the frame 26 is a spring pressed plunger 28 adapted to urge the disc 12, when required, into close proximity with the angularly reciprocating disc 11 so that the paper strip will be frictionally gripped between said two discs. The arrangement is such that the pressure disc 12 will grip the stationary paper strip 5 when the reciprocating disc 11 is stationary prior to its movement in the strip feeding direction and will remain in contact until the feed movement is completed. Upon completion of the feed movement the pressure disc 12 will be withdrawn from the reciprocating disc 11 whereupon the disc 11 then rotates to its initial angular position with the strip free, such cycle being repeated at each revolution of the machine. The two positions and timing of the movements of the pressure disc 12 are controlled by a face cam formed on the projecting edge 20a of the cam 20. The face cam co-operates with a cam roller 26a carried on a pin 46 secured in the frame 26 at the end of the frame opposite to that of the pin 27. The arrangement is such, however, that when actually gripping the paper strip, the pressure disc mounting including the roller 26a will ride clear of the indented portion 20b of the profiled projecting edge 2th; of the actuating cam 20 and will be maintained in its operative position solely by the action of the resilient means 28, being retracted against the action of such latter means through the medium of said projecting cam edge Zfia when the reciprocating disc 11 has completed its operative or feed stroke.

The paper strip 5 fed by the mechanism above described will be completely dry and it will, therefore, leave the feed mechanism in a sharply defined V-shaped form with the original strength of the material unimpaired so that it will form a stiff strut. The damping or moistening mechanism designated generally by 30 is disposed after the feed mechanism so that the moistening of the folded paper strip will be the last preparatory operation before application of the required severed length on to the work. With such an arrangement the damped paper will never contact any part of the mechanism except the lower knife which is used to sever the strip. Moreover, due to inherent stiffness of the dry paper strip all guides, which would otherwise be necessary to guide, stiffen and maintain the shape of a moistened strip, will be eliminated.

To effect damping or moistening of the folded paper strip issuing from the feed mechanism a fine fibered brush 31 is employed, said brush being shaped to an angular V shape at the fibre tips so that it will correspond to the shape defined by the internal gummed surfaces of the folded strip. The base of the brush 31 is immersed in a water reservoir 32 and a top paper support 33 is provided in order to keep the paper and brush in contact as the former is fed across the top of the latter. With such an arrangement. there are no inertia effects as there is no mechanism, the gum surface on the paper strip is disturbed gently by the bristle ends, and the amount of moisture applied is constant since the passage of the strip together with the capillary forces on the brush form an automatic pump for the maximum velocity required substantially irrespective of the depth of immersion of the brush in the Water reservoir. The damping surface, i. e. the bristles, cannot dry off on standing so long as there is water available in the reservoir and moreover the damping or moistening device may be placed as close to the machine head as is practicable since no excess of moisture is ever present and hence no space for drying out of the strip need be provided.

We claim:

1. In a corner staying machine incorporating means for folding a gummed paper strip longitudinally with its gummed surface inside, the provision of a feed mechanism for advancing the folded strip comprising first and second rotatable discs disposed respectively at opposite sides of the path of movement of the folded strip, a first driven cam, means actuated by said cam to impart an angular reciprocatory motion to the first disc in timed relation with the operative cycle of the corner staying machine for intermittently advancing the folded strip when it is gripped between the discs and the first disc rotates in a direction to advance the folded strip, means for biasing the second disc toward'the position to frictionally grip the folded strip between the discs, and a second driven cam for moving the second disc in timed relation with the angular reciprocation of first disc in a direction away from the first disc to a non-strip-gripping position when the first disc completes its strip-advancing motion.

2. A cornerstaying machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the means actuated by the first cam for imparting motion to the first disc comprises a pivoted sector, means actuated by the first cam for rocking the sector through a predetermined arc, and gear means connecting the sector with the first disc.

3. A corner staying machine as claimed in claim 2, in which the means actuated by the first cam includes a pivoted control means connected with the first cam and adapted to be rocked on its pivot by the first cam, and means connected with the control means for imparting the rocking motion thereof to the sector.

4. A corner staying machine as claimed in claim 3, in which the connection between the connecting means and the control means is adjustable for varying the are through which the sector is moved on its pivot.

5. A corner staying means as claimed in claim 4, in

first disc to a strip-gripping the ungummed surfaces of 6 which the connecting means includes a link one end of which is connected to the pivoted control means, and means for adjusting the position link with respect to its distance control means.

6. A corner staying machine as claimed in claim 1, including a shaft on which the first disc is mounted for rotation thereby, a gear fixed to said shaft, and a pivoted sector having teeth meshing with said gear and constituting the means actuated by thefirst cam for imparting motion to the first disc.

7. A corner staying machine as claimed in claim 1, including means for adjusting the means actuated by the first cam to vary the angle through which said disc is rotated, whereby the length of paper strip fed by the feed mechanism in each operative cycle may be regulated.

from the pivot of the References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS of said one end of said. 

